How did you get into Salesforce?
One of my favorite questions to ask coworkers and customers is “How did you get into Salesforce?” It is amazing all the different stories and paths that can lead to a Salesforce Career. If you are interested in working with the Salesforce platform there are 2 base routes that many people may take. Below let’s explore a career as a Salesforce consultant vs admin.
Salesforce Consultant
Salesforce Administrator
Let’s start by defining these roles. Below are a few of the common job attributes and responsibilities, but they may not be required for every position.
Salesforce Administrators:
Being an Administrator for a Salesforce Org (also known as instance) is a growing career path. As a Salesforce Administrator your job will range from maintaining user access to implementing new features for your company.
You will primarily work for one company (employer) who has one or many business units using Salesforce. It is important to understand how each group is using or would like to use the Salesforce Instance.
As a Salesforce Administrator you will have many meetings with key stakeholders of the company to ensure their current and new initiatives are working well with Salesforce. You will also need to be able to speak to many levels of employees.
When talking to Executives, their priorities will typically be focused on a broad project and overall reporting level. On the other hand, when you speak with the end users of Salesforce they will be more inclined to raise day to day requests for their use of Salesforce. As a Salesforce Administrator you will often have to communicate up and down the corporate ladder to ensure Salesforce adoption is going smoothly.
Key Skills for Salesforce Administrators
1. Know the Salesforce Platform:
There is so much to learn about the Salesforce ecosystem, but as an Administrator it is very important that you know or are certified in your instance’s cloud products. You do not have to be an expert, but a strong baseline understanding of terms and best practices will go a long way.
2. Know and ask for the Details:
A good Salesforce Administrator will live in the details of new business requests, Salesforce releases, and Salesforce reporting. When you are given a request, it is important to be able to digest it in detail and execute it in an accurate manner. The smallest of missed requirements can take a formula field from being spot on to way off. This will help the business team members grow confidence in Salesforce’s reliability and in your ability as an Administrator. Do not be afraid to ask the detailed questions. If you feel like a request is too vague, then it will most likely create issues when you deliver the update to the system.
3. Be a Salesforce Doctor:
Just like a doctor would not recommend a patient for surgery they do not need or a prescription for the wrong symptom, an Administrator should be skilled to prescribe the right Salesforce automation or recommendation with the overall Salesforce Instance’s health in mind.
Salesforce Consultants:
As a former Salesforce Administrator turned Salesforce Consultant it was not a transition that I just jumped into. A consultant is known to be a trusted advisor to guide businesses as they maintain or implement Salesforce.
There are a few misconceptions about Salesforce consultants. Here are a few that I had when I was a Salesforce Admin.
“Salesforce Consultants know Apex / Flows and are all Developers”
There are many consultants that are developers and know how to code and build flows but not all Salesforce consultants do. Being a Developer is not a prerequisite to being a Salesforce Consultant and in fact the majority of Consultants are not Developers.
“Salesforce Consultants are paid hourly”
This was one of the reasons I was hesitant to start a career path in consulting. I quickly found out that yes, there are some contract or full time positions that pay hourly rates but the vast majority of Salesforce consulting firms actually set a full time base salary with monthly/quarterly/yearly bonuses.
“Salesforce Consultants don’t work full schedules”
The knock on some consultants is that they are never around when needed or slow to respond. In my experience most Salesforce consulting firms give you a minimum number of billable hours to hit per week, and then from that you can set your own working hours. This tends to be a typical 9-5.
Key skills for Consultants
1. Teach and Learn
As a Salesforce Consultant it is part of your job not only to know the Salesforce platform, but be able to know how to provide guidence to clients. We all know that technology is constantly changing, and this makes it impossible to know everything about Salesforce. The most important thing is to be an active learner, just like your clients should be when you are teaching them about the platform. It is ok to not have the answer, the key is knowing how and when to do more research, and learning ways to sharpen your Salesforce knowledge.
2. Self Motivated
With consulting it is important to not only be willing to put in extra work to learn about the recent Salesforce Product updates but it is also crucial that you have the motivation to check tasks off the list. There are many times that you will be faced with multiple projects, clients, deadlines and schedule conflicts, and having a “get it done and make it happen” attitude will be very beneficial to keep projects rolling and keep your agenda organized. Many positions for Salesforce Consultants are 100% remote and there is no one there ensuring you do your work.
3. Detail, Detail, Detail
Good consultants are detail oriented. Many people say “the devil is in the details” and they are correct. Ensuring you create new validation rules or a new version of an active flow correctly can make the difference of one missed field or one missed email communication from the client. Salesforce Consultants must be mindful of the details not only to ensure client requirements are being met, but also so that the consultant can explain these details to the client.
Final Thoughts
I would like to emphasize that there are many different paths to a career in Salesforce. Even Salesforce’s learning program Trailhead is branded around the idea adventure. Just like starting out on a hike in the woods, you are never sure what you will see or where the path may take you.
If you are looking to start your career with Salesforce, a junior Salesforce Administrator position is a great start. Once you get some hands-on experience, you may want to dip your toe into Salesforce Consulting. If you enjoy working with different business and industries, and like the idea of learning the full spectrum of the Salesforce ecosystem, then consulting might be the path for you.
Helpful Resources
Salesforce Career Path Insights
Salesforce Trailhead: Admin Trailmix
SFDC99 Blog: Career Success Stories
SalesforceThink 
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